You're brave

A few years ago I signed up for emails from a few restaurants. Some of these send you a coupon for a free meal for your birthday. Red Robin and Perkins give you a two week time span in which to redeem the coupon. There is a Perkins very close to where Nadia has ballet/tap on Tuesdays from 4:00-4:45. I decided to take the three kids there today for dinner. I told them this morning about my plan, and I said that if they did a good job, I would take them to Red Robin next Tuesday. When I walked in to Perkins with Oliver, Nadia, and Ian, the hostess looked at me and said "You're brave." I thought she might be thinking "or stupid." Well I am pleased to say the meal went very smoothly. We colored with crayons until they brought us our food. I ordered one kids meal (2 pancakes with sprinkles that came with apple juice and a large cookie). I asked for an extra plate. Nadia ate one whole pancake plus had a little of my eggs and breakfast potatoes. Ian ate almost all of his pancake. I broke the cookie in half, and each child ate half. Because my meal was free, including the tip we paid a total of $5.78 for the three of us to have dinner. A few months ago the thought of taking my three little ones to a sit down restaurant by myself would never have crossed my mind, but I've now become adjusted to having three kids age four and under, although I still prefer to do my grocery shopping at a time when I don't have all three with me. Hopefully our dinner at Red Robin will go just as smoothly next Tuesday. My parents are taking the kids and I out to lunch on Saturday at Cracker Barrell. I'm enjoying stretching out my birthday celebrations!